Stop Worrying about Amen’s Shooting...Two Words: Ben Sullivan

In a way, it is.

 

This nephew thinks that's no other NBA teams have shooting coaches.

What did Amen do the last 2 years playing 'pro', training 8 hours a day without worrying about school?

 

They hired Ollie for 1 year. Is he the shooting coach down there or someone else?

Ollie is interviewing for NBA HC gigs, so he there's his commitment to OTE (will stay until something better comes along).

 

Jaylen Brown shot 29% in college

Kawhi shot 20% and 29% in his two seasons at SDSU

Marcus Smart shot 29% in college

These are outliers but not historical outliers (that would be Jason Kidd who learned to shoot midway through his career)

These guys aren't finished products, they are prospects. Amen may never shoot above 32% in a season or maybe he will. I wouldn't write him off with his work ethic. He's my second favorite player in this draft and alone in a tier with Scoot Henderson. The Rockets will be fortuitous if the Blazers or Hornets decide to take Brandon Miller.

 

Either you can shoot - the most important skill in the NBA or you can't - never has a guy come in that couldn't shoot that became a dead eye shooter......

Pass on Amen.......hard pass.

DD

 

We are signing Harden. Thompson would be a wasted pick sitting behind Harden. The pick will be traded or the Rockets will take a ready to play wing like Walker, Dick, or Whitmore.

 

would prefer ben help out our scoot henderson instead

 

I think most people are worried about two words - Ben Simmons

 

And Simmons was an all-NBA player, before injuries and before he stopped caring about basketball...

 

He never cared about basketball.

 

I think most people are worried about two words - Ben Simmons

…and he stopped caring about basketball when defenses started to expose his poor shooting and make it his teams biggest weakness.

 

Don’t know much about Amen other than a couple clips I have seen and a few scouting reports. I don’t think I have ever seen a combo guard with that much explosion and athleticism without any kind of jumpshot or good FT%. His FT% was 65.6 and 56.6 FG%. The bulk of his scoring seems to be in the paint with either layups or dunks.

We all know he can’t shoot 3’s. But other NBA players such as Fox and Morant can’t shoot 3’s either. But Fox had a mid range game even in college shooting that 15-20 footer. Fox shot 40% from from this range in his rookie year. Morant had a closer mid range game in college usually with floaters in the paint about 10-14 ft and shot 47% from this range his rookie year.

Both Fox and Morant aren’t good 3 pt shooters but they are dynamic in how and where they score on the court with long floaters, mid range pullups, or from the high screen and roll to the paint. Amen seems to lack this diversity in his offensive game from what I’ve seen with relying on blowing by people ending with a dunk or layup or getting a lob. But he has a natural feel for the game and very alert on offense finding open shooters consistently. He is interesting and Larry Hughes who Philly drafted in 98 comes to mind as an on ball explosive guy that couldn’t shoot FT or had a jumpshot but he didn’t have the crazy quickness Amen has or his passing.

 

Amen could improve but I don't see him ever being a great shooter. However if a coach could improve Green and Smith then you'd have something on your hands. They have it in them to be great shooters.